Pieces coming together for New Mexico State women's basketball

LAS CRUCES —Brooke Atkinson didn't bring drastic changes offensively or defensively for her first season as New Mexico State's women's basketball coach.

But there was also an adjustment period as she inherited an Aggies team accustomed to winning and returning players who were recruited to play for former head coach Mark Trakh.

"It just takes some time," said Atkinson, whose team is 11-9 overall in her first season as a head coach. "You want to be playing your best basketball in March and our kids have just continued to grow."

NMSU entered Western Athletic Conference 6-8, but Atkinson has the three-time defending WAC Tournament champions are once again alone at the top of the standings at 5-1.

"You want things to always go well, but it has been a learning experience," Atkinson said. "(Trakh) is a great coach and we graduated some seniors, but I'm also not going to be Coach Trakh and we had some new kids."

The Aggies play at Texas-Rio Grande Valley (11-10, 1-5 WAC) on Saturday at 6 p.m. Saturday is the first of three straight conference road games, which includes next weekend at Bakersfield and Grand Canyon — two teams that are each a game behind the Aggies.

Texas-Rio Grande Valley is 1-5 in the conference and the only team in the league the Aggies have not played yet.

"These are huge games but we do have the goal to take every game, every practice one at a time," Atkinson said. "It's important that we focus on the next game on the schedule, band I think it's a big one."

Sports Editor Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.